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Showing results for portage. Search instead for Portague.
Synonyms

portage

1 American  
[pawr-tij, pohr-, pawr-tahzh] / ˈpɔr tɪdʒ, ˈpoʊr-, pɔrˈtɑʒ /

noun

  1. the act of carrying; carriage.

  2. the carrying of boats, goods, etc., overland from one navigable water to another.

  3. the route over which this is done.

  4. the cost of carriage.

verb (used without object)

portaged, portaging

  1. to make a portage.

    On this stretch of the river, we have to portage for a mile.

verb (used with object)

portaged, portaging

  1. to carry (something) over a portage; make a portage with.

    We portaged our canoe around the rapids.
Portage 2 American  
[pawr-tij, pohr-] / ˈpɔr tɪdʒ, ˈpoʊr- /

noun

  1. a city in SW Michigan.

  2. a town in NW Indiana.

portage British  
/ pɔrtaʒ, ˈpɔːtɪdʒ /

noun

  1. the act of carrying; transport

  2. the cost of carrying or transporting

  3. the act or process of transporting boats, supplies, etc, overland between navigable waterways

  4. the route overland used for such transport

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to transport (boats, supplies, etc) overland between navigable waterways

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of portage

1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle French; port 5, -age

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This was an important historical spot for the Coast Salish peoples as a canoe portage between Lake Washington and Lake Union, before the Montlake Cut was dug to unite the two water bodies.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 3, 2023

If you don’t need quite as much power and portage, Satechi sells a 66W three USB-C port charger for $55.

From The Verge • Jan. 7, 2022

Where it couldn’t, I accepted a nudge, or even in the case of a then-crumbling Saugus River footbridge, a brief portage.

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2021

The Indian Agency House was built along the portage route between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers in 1832 to house agent John H. Kinzie and his wife, Juliette.

From Washington Times • Aug. 1, 2020

Roosevelt still worried about the time involved in making a detailed map—not to mention the time lost in building the portage.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.